“It was an amazing project because we made it without any expectations,” said Doucet, talking about the fun experimentation that the studio was able to partake in during the development of Astro Bot Rescue Mission. “All we wanted was to do the best possible evolution of that prototype and help VR show people VR can do this, this, this, and that. We were trying to come up with as many original ideas as possible.”

“We had no idea it would actually be a profitable game and even take us some awards,” he continued. “So that was really, really nice.”

Doucet also spoke about working on the next Astro Bot title: Astro’s Playroom. “We made some demos once again and showed them to the world, same kind of thing,” said Doucet.

He also recently revealed in an interview with Famitsu that one of Astro Bot‘s most beloved features – its VIP Stages – were originally planned to be mini-stages. For context, VIP stages are the ones that feature characters from classic PlayStation franchises, like God of War’s Kratos and the monkeys from Ape Escape.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission was essentially the debut of the franchise. Released in 2018 exclusively for the PS4’s VR headset, PlayStation VR, the game was a showcase of just about every kind of gameplay trick possible with the unique medium.

The whole game was designed around the DualShock 4 controller and the VR headset and allowed players to experience a third-person platformer game from a unique perspective. Players would interact with the game’s environment in unique ways as well, such as smashing walls with headbutts.

Astro’s Playroom, on the other hand, was designed as a simpler 3D platforming experience, this time around showcasing the various features of the PS5. All its levels were designed around one of the PS5’s features, including its internal hardware and the DualSense. Despite essentially being a tech demo, Astro’s Playroom got quite a bit of praise for being a genuinely fun and accessible platformer.

More recently, Astro’s Bot has been incredibly successful developer Team Asobi. The PS5-exclusive title was well-received and even ended up being the highest-rated game on Metacritic for 2024. Check out our own review for more details about the title.

It comes as not much of a surprise, as Sony recently confirmed that SIE Japan Studio had been shut down, following the laying off of a number of staff within the studio and a change of organizational structure earlier this year. Team Asobi was recently instated as a new full-fledged studio. SIE Japan Studio has been an integral part of Sony since its humble beginnings with highly-rated games like Ape Escape, Gravity Rush, and Shadow of the Colossus, just to name a few.

Sources familiar with the matter have spoken to a bunch of outlets on the massive lay-offs, who believe that Japan Studio wasn’t profitable as other studios within Sony had far more lucrative IPs. This directly echoes the sentiments of a previous report which stated that Sony’s insistence on blockbuster exclusives is causing unrest within the studios.

The news comes as Hulst was asked about the future of Japanese game development at Sony and how important it was to PlayStation. “Polyphony Digital is such an important part of the PlayStation family, making the best driving simulation games in the world,” Hulst said. “We’re building Team Asobi in Tokyo, a world-class studio that are developing a franchise for all ages with global appeal. Such a creative team. And alongside Asobi, we will continue to maintain and build partnerships through our external development team. So I’m really excited about the future of PlayStation games from Japan, and Asia.”

While there’s no word on what exactly Team Asobi is working on, it’s exciting to know that the team is working on something. It’s also good that Sony still continues to value Japanese development given the recent string of high-profile departures from Japan Studio.

With Gravity Rush 2 coming to the PS4 exclusively, Sony will also be catching players who may not ever have had the chance to go hands on with the first adventure, which was out on the PS Vita exclusively, up with Gravity Rush Remastered, which will bring that adventure to the PS4.

The video that you can see below shows off a hefty chunk of the remastered game’s gameplay, and you can see for yourself just how great the game looks, now that it’s been cleaned up. Gravity Rush always had great art- the PS4 really highlights that.

In addition to the improved graphics, Gravity Rush Remastered will also include a new “Gallery Mode,” that will allow players to enjoy the game’s artwork in high resolution. It should be just another way of appreciating just how beautiful the art in this game really is.

Gravity Rush Remastered will be out on PS4. Stay tuned.

After a long period of silence, Gravity Rush 2 was finally announced exclusively for the PlayStation 4 at the Tokyo Game Show. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, and it looks like it will realize the full potential of the original game, which was charming but ultimately restrained and stunted by the PS Vita hardware.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has opened the official Japanese website for the game, which gave us our first details on the game’s story and characters (translation by Gematsu). It appears that the story will be set after the conclusion of the events of the first game, and that it will follow a strange gravity wave disturbance in the aerial city of Hekseville. Naturally, Kat gets involved in this alongside Raven and Syd, and the three are sucked into a gravitational whirlpool before even getting a chance to use their powers.

It sounds pretty cool, and like a much bigger premise in scope than the original game had. I can’t wait to get my own hands on Gravity Rush 2, when it launches in 2016, and see how it all turns out.

To nobody’s surprise, Gravity Rush 2 was announced yesterday, and it was announced as a PS4 title, unlike the original, which released exclusively for the PlayStation Vita. The game being on the PS4 should definitely help with a lot of issues the original title had (including framerate, draw distance, combat, and a lack of density in the game world), but there was one more area where it was clear it had benefitted: the graphics. Gravity Rush 2 looks absolutely gorgeous.

If you don’t believe me, check out the new screenshots for the game, unveiled in Famitsu, for yourself. A lot of these are concept art, but a lot of them seem to be in game, and it looks as though the promise of the original game’s artstyle will finally be realized with this sequel.

Gravity Rush 2 is due out exclusively on the PlayStation 4 some time next year. To bring PS4 owners up to speed with the series, a remaster of the original game will also be made available on the console.

The trailer that revealed the long awaited expansion for Bloodborne yesterday showed off new weapons and equipment, but against older bosses, and largely in old locations. That said, it is very clear that there will be new areas to visit in the upcoming expansion- and the new art that we have gotten for the game confirms that.

First of all, the art just looks striking, and it seems to fit right in with Bloodborne’s creepy and unsettling look. The art seems to show us a brand new, sprawling indoor location, with a massive central tower, and loads of flights of stairs spreading out from them. It reminds me of the location of the miniboss battle in the Nightmare of Mensis (and it might just be that, but in a different time, although the art labels it the Clock Tower).

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters will launch on November 24, exclusively on PS4.

Sony aren’t just showcasing their big games  at TGS- for instance, a significant portion of their conference at TGS yesterday was dedicated to just the indie games that the PS4 is getting, even in Japan. One of the smaller games that they chose to highlight in this manner is one that they are working on themselves, along with studio Q-Games, the makers of the PixelJunk franchise.

The game looks absolutely adorable, as you can see. It has oodles of charm, which can somewhat mask the fact that there is some serious technology powering the game, making it look as realistic as it does (the age old assertion of a PlayStation game looking as good as a Pixar movie seems to be finally coming true).

The Tomorrow Children is due out exclusively on the PlayStation 4 some time soon. Stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we will keep you posted with all news and information.

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters looks like everything that Bloodborne needed- the game was always a legitimate masterpiece, but it did suffer from a fair few issues, with the most notable of those being the sheer lack of weapon builds. That is one issue that The Old Hunters is promising to address, alongside adding what will presumably be a lore heavy story that will flesh out the rich world of Bloodborne even more.

As part of the Bloodborne: The Old Hunters announcement, Sony released a new piece of artwork for the expansion, and it looks striking and gorgeous. It looks amazing, and I wouldn’t say no to having it as a poster for a wall in my room, honestly. It also raises a fair few questions, especially about the expansion’s place within Bloodborne lore- but we’ll get answers to them once we play through The Old Hunters this November.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more TGS coverage.

Mostly, it’s fair to say that SCEA has all but given up on the Vita; they ignore it, they don’t market it, they don’t try to procure or develop games for it, and many times, they even seem to actively sabotage it. But every now and then, to the surprise of all, they make a genuine effort with the system. Today was one of those days.

SCEA, you see, confirmed not one, not two, but three exclusives for the Vita releasing in the US– these include Soul Sacrifice Delta, the expanded version of last year’s hit action game Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, another action game that is about to release in Japan soon, and Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, a JRPG. All three games are Sony Japan Studios produced (as they seem to be the only internal Sony studio still making games for the handheld).

Soul Sacrifice Delta will launch first, with a May 13 release date- the release dates for the other two will be announced later.

Still, for the Vita, this is a great boost to its library, especially considering that after its stellar 2013 last year, Nintendo seems to have eased off the pedal with the 3DS this year, giving the Vita a bit of an opening.